https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/2rDbrzb ... muqi8S.jpg
A Memento Mori in a Molecular Cloud
Taken over nine nights throughout 2022, this rendering of Caldwell 49 reminds me of Robert Herrick’s poem
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time ("Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying").
At first struck by the simple beauty of a rose (hence, the popular name "Rosette nebula"), we soon realize that Caldwell 49 hides within it a classic Memento Mori - an ominous skull facing us and looking slightly to our left.
When Hans Holbein the Younger painted his famous portrait of
The Ambassadors in 1533, he placed an indiscernible shape in the foreground, which proved to be a skull when viewed from a different angle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ambassadors_(Holbein)
When Hamlet looks at poor Yorick's skull, he instructs Horatio to "get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come."
Our collective efforts throughout history to remind ourselves to make much of the limited time we have are admirable, but Caldwell 49 has already been doing this for ~5 million years!
The image comprises over 50 hours of integration (roughly equal parts of H-alpha, S2, and O3, and was taken from my backyard in Santa Monica, CA under Bortle 7 skies. Processing was done entirely in PixInsight, and the gear used was as follows:
Camera: ZWO ASI6200MM-pro
Scope: William Optics Fluorostar 132mm Refractor
Mount: Astro-Physics Mach2GTO
Filters: Chroma 3nm Ha/S2/O3 50mm
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI174MM-mini
Accessories: ZWO OAG-L, Pegasus Powerbox Advance
Additional detail is available at the image link referenced above.
Respectfully submitted,
Aaron Wilhelm
